How much do those course evaluation sheets we fill out really matter? I mean, if enough people claim that a professor is horrible, would that do anything? Or if there are recomendations for changes in a course, do they really take them seriously?
these evaluations are not used direstly by the departments or the faculty of arts and science. they matter a lot. they are given to the profs by assu (arts and science student union) so that they can make the ever-popular, ever-useful, ever-praised anti-calendar, which askastudent heartily endorses. the anti-calendar is good for the following reasons. 1. it gives students a method of quality-control of their profs and their courses, which would otherwise only be controlled by the departments and the faculty.
2. it gives students a method to choose the courses and professors that they feel will be the most beneficial to their education.
3. it gives profs and departments honest and unmitigated opinions of the students.
4. it gives students the opportunity to vent the seething frustration that develops over eight months of lestening and not talking back, and quells the desire to write hate mail.
you know, that prof who uses the word ‘peruse’ 4 times a lecture, as though the likes of john milton and scott fitzgerald require merely an eye-wandering to comprehend. or the t.a. who perfers emails to office hours, as though seeing the students one-on-one makes them seem a little too much like real people.
so use this power, and use it wisely my friend. it is one of the few priviledges granted to students. it holds the power of publication
cheers,
askastudent